Gender Diversity

Why not start with gender?!?

After all, this is where most of the ROI seems to sit. Gender touches every diversity category. And, when we get the expected change in business for initiating this movement successfully, we will have the behaviors necessary to open the door for everyone.

Now, we don’t mean gender diversity like you’ve seen it before. We have to get ‘crazy’. The things we’ve done to date have been wonderful, but not enough. Here are a couple of things we’ve learned from our conversation already:

Women’s Organizations are not enough. There are some great ones out there, but we need to include men.

The conversation inside the corporations is too small. These conversations are great for certain aspects, but gender diversity is bigger than any corporation, it’s personal. And, the politics inside a company can be a barrier to really talking about the ‘moose on the table’.

Gender does not always mean sex. Stereotypical female behaviors exist, to some extent, in both sexes. And vice versa. We will need to balance the behaviors first, so that the sexes can take their rightful places in leadership.

The movement is a positive one. We must believe that gender diversity in leadership is possible, and not crumple in complaint. This conversation has become tired, for some, and it is a battle, for others. It is truly a win-win situation, and it is possible when we change our mindsets and make it personal, everyday.

Starting with gender diversity opens up the path for all diversity issues. We mean this suggestion not to discount any of the other diversity issues, but to bring them with us. Diversity is one issue, not many.

Which brings us to our hope for the tipping point, after your company has taken this first step. We have a series of best practices to suggest in our conversation with you, related to our view of this next level of diversity.